The Kumo Story

Shaon · Posted: Sat Jul 08, 2006 9:22 am Post subject:

One Mistake, glancing oncemore, merely jump into the air, landing directly at the entrance of the Sanctuary. With quite a bit of a lead, he entered.

Kumo was forced back to reality with several pricking feelings from his abdomen. Looking back, he saw...

A tunnel. A blue malestrom, sucking him in. His hairs, being the accident prone things they are, were being pulled off his body.

The hairball, compelled by the tunnel, ripped itself away from Sao'tal's armscythe, slamming hard into the back of Kumo's head, sending more hairs to be sucked into the warp.

Kumo's brain was definately not expecting this, and the spider was knocked out by the heavy thing as it also flew into the tunnel.

Kumo, now not having much of a resistance, began to slowly slide into the malestrom.

3kul · Posted: Sat Jul 08, 2006 11:37 am Post subject:

~Dammit, this freak is annoying...~ Little Sister began to scuttle after One Mistake, when she suddenly lost her grip on the ground. She flipped backwards through the air a few times, before digging into ground with her tendrils. She shrieked with annoyance, turning around to be greeted with a force even she couldn't reckon with.

The blue vortex was sucking up everything nearby, and several small rocks bounced off of Sao'tal's back as he hurried back to Kumo. He was much heavier than Little Sister, so it wasn't too hard at first, but once he got closer, he could feel the portal's suction force increase dramatically. Digging his arm scythes into the ground near Kumo, he desperately tried to get a hold of the spiderian creature without slicing him to pieces.

Serpells was only able to watch the scene unfold before him. He'd certainly heard of warp portals before, but he had never heard of them opening randomly like this before, and seeing one up so close whilst knowing that nothing was controlling it was terrifying. Moving away from the console, his chair floated as closely as it could to the window as he tried to figure out what to do. "Protectors! Get yourselves and Kumo away from that thing! There's no telling what it's capable of!"

He had totally forgotten about One Mistake, who could be seen moving quickly through the Sanctuary on several different security monitors.

Shaon · Posted: Sat Jul 08, 2006 11:53 am Post subject:

Kumo, being several tons, is quite heavy and rather hard to pull on.

However, Sao'tal can get a grip on him, but his arms would collapse from paralysis before he got any far.

3kul · Posted: Sat Jul 08, 2006 1:09 pm Post subject:

"Protectors! Get yourselves and Kumo away from that thing! There's no telling what it's capable of!"

"I'm trying Saviour!" Sao'tal shouted back over the radio link. "It's too hard, I can barely even hold on!" The combination of Kumo's paralyzing hairs as well as the overpowering pull from the swirling blue vortex soon became too much, and he couldn't move Kumo any further. "Damn... Not strong enough..." With the last few bits of strength that he had in his arms, he smashed them into the solid rock beneath them, digging them deep into the surface.

~Keh, moronic Sao'tal. He'd better realize that I'm only doing this because I have to put up with these losers...~ A white tendril hooked around Sao'tal's arm, before sharpening and tightening in an instant. Sao'tal screamed, more with anger than pain, as his arm was sliced in half at the joint. The loose arm scythe remained in the ground only for a moment longer, before Kumo's body dislodged it as it was dragged towards the vortex.

"Kumo, no!" Sao'tal's other arm had totally seized up, and Kumo's body slid around it and lifted off the ground. "KUMOOOOO!!!!" He tried to chase after Kumo, but more tendrils wrapped themselves around his leg joints and his body. Little Sister was letting him know that if need be, she'd cut off his legs and drag him back.

"Protector, stop at once!" Serpells' voice rang throughout his head. "All you can do now is save yourself. There is no hope for Kumo." As Kumo disappeared through the warp portal, Sao'tal slowly and with great difficulty dragged himself away from the close range of the vortex.

Back inside the Observatory, as Serpells gazed at the swirling blue warp portal, tears welled up in his eyes. He called himself a Saviour, and yet he could never do anything to save anybody when it counted. His chair floated back to it's original position, and he stepped out of it, heading to the door. He'd need to treat Sao'tal, and Little Sister needed to be returned to her quarters.

As Serpells went to exit the Observatory, a flashing button on the command console reminded him that, in the confusion, he'd forgotten to activate the lockdown system. And judging by the presence of the eight foot tall spider-like monstrocity in his doorway, it was far too late to do anything like that now.

"You..."

Shaon · Posted: Sat Jul 08, 2006 1:31 pm Post subject:

The portal closed only a few minutes after sucking in Kumo.

He awoke, dazed, on a grassy plain, along with the many rocks and hairballs that came with him. On a nearby building, a sign hung. Written on it in bold letters, was "Welcome to Blackstar Dojo."

---

OM lowered his main body so he was eye to eye with Serpells.

"Doctor Eugene 'Saviour' Serpells, age 27. Joined the team at age 18. Fired for preachings about 'saving' humanity. Helped create Experiment Number One, 'Saigo no Kumo'.

Hello, doctor. I am Experiment Number Eight Hundred and Fifty Six. Good to meet you."

The experiment raised his pedipalp, in a perfect imitation of a handshake.

3kul · Posted: Mon Jul 10, 2006 10:52 am Post subject:

Serpells was quite surprised by the monstrocity's friendly attitude, and he quickly began to run over what he knew about it in his head. Given Kumo's reaction, and things that Kumo had mentioned from his past, this was undoubtably the monster that had been created by his former colleagues - the one which had slaughtered them mercilessly, and then disappeared completely.

His choices were exceedingly limited. He had now way of defending himself, Pilelia and Tausk were currently in their cells expecting the lockdown sequence to have been initiated, Sao'tal and Liyao were too far away to come to his aid, and although they might realize that he had yet to initiate the lockdown, they would never get here in time. All he could do is see what Number 856 wanted from him, and try not to do anything that would get himself killed.

"Interesting that you should know so much about me, considering that I left so early in the Kumo Series." He reached out and shook One Mistake's pedipalp, he appeared noticably nervous whilst doing so, but endeavoured to remain calm. In this case, it might be better not to mention what he'd heard from Kumo. "I find it most interesting that I have been granted the opportunity to meet you Number 856, especially in my far off corner of the multiverse. What brings you all the way out here?"

Shaon · Posted: Mon Jul 10, 2006 11:18 am Post subject:

856 was amused that the scientist is following along with him, instead of, say , falling backwards and crawling away from him, babbling, and answered accordingly, his large pedipalps mockingly imitating human body language.

"Oh, you know, anomalies in time and space created by something used to create wormholes moving into a pocket demension. The usual."

The killer leaned toward Serpells, using his large size to look even more menacing. Being himself, he found a lot about human fears in his two years of living, and uses it readily to his advantage.

"Why I'm here, however, is a stroke of pure luck, that I managed to find a wormhole that landed in the exact spot as I wanted it to. My eldest brother being taken captive by one, again, was out of my hands. I would never wish such a thing happen to the ones who helped my creation.

But I'm here, because of you. I've read through the records. My 'parents' have laid off many a person, but I find you most... facinating. How you wish to 'save' humanity by any means possible, but what intrests me the most... is your Parasitian creatures. Tell me everything you know about them."

3kul · Posted: Mon Jul 10, 2006 11:50 am Post subject:

Serpells was used to dealing with large beings (Sao'tal was almost as big as One Mistake), but he still couldn't help but feel very nervous around this one, knowing it's past as well as he did. He took a few steps back as One Mistake leaned towards him, becoming increaingly fearful of him and his own current predicament.

However, the moment One Mistake mentioned Parisitians, any and all fear he felt towards the beast instantly disappeared. This creature was smart, and wanted to know about Parasitians. Serpells felt instantly reassured that he'd remain unharmed, as without him, the monster knew that it would learn nothing. The ball was in Serpells' court now.

"I can do better than just tell you what I know about Parasitians - why don't I show you?"

Shaon · Posted: Mon Jul 10, 2006 12:14 pm Post subject:

"Show me? Fine."

The killer's suspicion rose. He was fully aware that he had at least one Parasitian, and as thus readied for a sneak attack.

3kul · Posted: Tue Jul 11, 2006 2:32 am Post subject:

Serpells reached into his lab coat and tapped his compacted clipboard twice. A hidden panel in the wall of the Observatory slid aside, and he waved his arm to indicate that this was where they were going. "Right this way then..." Not waiting for One Mistake, Serpells took the lead and began to walk down the corridor.

The panel snapped shut behind One Mistake, nearly clipping him as it did so. "You might want to watch the doors, this way was designed as an escape route for one." As they walked, the panels in front of them every few hundred metres or so continued to do this, each one snapping closer and closer to One Mistake. Serpells smirked as he continued to tap the clipboard, opening and closing various corridors in the Sanctuary. The way the Sanctuary was set up, you could spend well over an hour wandering down various corridors without ever actually getting anywhere, provided that one knew the right turns to take. This would most likely buy him enough time to allow the Protectors to come to his aide.

------------------------------------------------------------

Tausk and Pilelia noticed their cell doors slide open, and quickly stepped out. "I-is it gone?" Pilelia asked, currently in liquid form. "No... Something here's not right." Tausk noticed that many of the corridors were still open, and that some were currently opening and closing. "For whatever reason, the Saviour hasn't initiated lockdown. The fact that he's opening and shutting off corridors suggests that he wishes us to go somewhere."

Pilelia partially solidified, expressing a look of slight confusion. "Why would he do that?" Closing his eyes, Tausk thought deeply. "Most likely... the Saviour was not able to intiate lockdown in time, and whatever was entering has reached him. His altering of the corridors suggests that he wants us to go somewhere - this is either to stop his captor, help him escape or a combination of the two."

"So the Saviour needs our help?" This was all Pilelia needed to hear. Liquifying, she splashed down one of the few remaining open corridors. "Wait, we should alert the other Protectors... Grauuu..." His strange utterance signalled that he was annoyed, and he reluctanty scampered after Pilelia. Tapping the side of his head to activate one of his radio links with a tendril. "Older Brother, Youngest Sister, the Saviour appears to require our aide at once. You don't need to worry about where he or we are, the only corridors available to you are the ones left open."

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Little Sister and Sao'tal charged back into the Sanctuary, shoving each other out of the way as they did so. "Kumo would've lived if you'd helped him, and now because you couldn't even do your job right, the Saviour's life is in danger!" Sao'tal hissed at Little Sister, lashing out with his remaining arm scythe, he smacked her into a wall.

~Keh! Stupid Sao'tal, if you weren't so pitifully weak, perhaps you could've taken care of your own problems. Now out of my WAY!~ A torrent of woven hair smashed into his side, and he skidded away a little whilst Little Sister scuttled down one of the open corridors. "Argh! I didn't think you even cared about the Saviour!" A piercing shriek-like laughter echoed throughout the corridor that she'd travelled down. ~He's not the one who's caught my attention...~

((No, Sao'tal can't suddenly understand Little Sister, they're both just angry with each other atm. Little Sister is currently aiming for One Mistake, whilst Sao'tal (like Pilelia and Tausk) are aiming to save Serpells.))

Shaon · Posted: Tue Jul 11, 2006 9:30 am Post subject:

After a short while, the killer noticed they were walking in the same set of corridors, over and over again. This irritated him, and he vented his annoyance at Serpells, whom he wrapped a long pedipalp around, squeezing him tight, and lifted him up in the air, directly to where his mouth was.

"Get to where we're going and get there quick. I'm readily prepared to kill you, although it would be a shame."

3kul · Posted: Tue Jul 11, 2006 9:39 am Post subject:

((Shaon, every corridor looks the same... Razz

))

Shaon · Posted: Tue Jul 11, 2006 9:50 am Post subject:

((OM can detect THAT THEYRE GOING IN CIRCLES and probably looking for even the smallest details.))

3kul · Posted: Sun Aug 13, 2006 8:42 am Post subject:

((It's been quite a while since I last posted in this thread... Well, the break from it is over, about time I got back into it all Smile

))

"A-ah, y-yes, of course..." Serpells had held confidence in the fact that One Mistake wouldn't kill him because it wanted to know about Parasitians, but the arachnidesque beast had thrown that back in his face. The scientist was noticably a little more nervous than before, as he felt unable to predict what this monster was going to do - all he could do was exactly as it told him to for now.

Finally they reached the Laboratory. The doors slid open, and once the two had entered, they slid shut again. A small light above the door indicated that the Laboratory was currently in use. Serpells turned to One Mistake, feeling a sinking feeling in his gut as he asked it the one question that had been on his mind since it had arrived here.

"There's an awful lot of research that I've done over the years here, so perhaps it would be quickest to simply tell me exactly what part of my research on Parasitians you are most interested in."

Shaon · Posted: Sun Aug 13, 2006 8:52 am Post subject:

The Kumo immediately replied, as if it took no thought at all.

"Their ability to become something else. To absorb them, and grow parts of them. How they are what they eat, you see."